Safety device



Feb. 27,1923. 7 1,446,823

R. BREYER SAFETY DEVICE Filed Dec. 29, 1921 Robezf Bmger Wfi Patented Feb. 27, 1 923 ROBERT BREYER, or MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN; nssre vonrorrroEivrx'xmrTme WORKS, MILWAUKEE, WISCC-N SIN,

a oo'nronn'r om or WISCONSIN.

: SAFETY nnvrcnj Application filecl Deoember 29, 1321.; Serial no. 525,799.

To all w/wma vi -rig] concern: I 'Beit known that 1, ROBERT BREYER, a

citizen of the United States. residing at Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin, have invented a certain new and useful Iinproven' ent in Safety Devices, of which the. followingis a full,

- clear, concise, and exact description, refer- .ence being had to the accompanying drawln s, forming a part of th sspecification. 7 My invention relates to protective devices for guarding the moving parts of machin- 'ery to protect the operator and others from accidental injury thereby. More specifically it relates to means for guarding the hand wheel of full fashion machines.

In the rnachin in common use'for this work, the operator must be able. to stop the machine when standing at any point along the length thereof,and must also be able toturn the machine slowly by .llilIlCtWllllQ adjusting the needles and other parts of the knitting mechanism. For this purpose a.

small control shaft is. provided, located in front of the machine and substantially level with the work, whichshaft may be slid longitudinally to complete an electric cirpresent invention.

cuit for driving the machine by power.

Below the control shaft there is -a larger,

shaft geared to the driving mechanism, of themachine, and. equipped Wltllft plurality of handwheels at spaced intervals, so that 1 wherever the operator happens to be, he

can always readily grasp one ofthe hand wheels wlthone hand and turn the machine to observe the operation of the knitting unit infront of whichhe is standing, Thefore going structure is old and well known in the; art and per se forms no part of, my

.lNhile I amjat'present unable to state definitely whether the charge originates in the friction ofthe knitting. n'eedles with the silk thread or not; it is'a fact that in opera tion thesemachines pick upa rather heavy, charge of static electricity, especially in damp weather just before a rain; The resultant tendency of the machine, and especially of the rotating hand wheels, to attract the clothing ofanyone coming near them, involves less risk tothe operators than would ordinarily be anticipated, partly because the operators are usually men, and partly because the operator is continuallv touching various metallic; parts of the ma .chineis. stoppe'd,- ,otherwise the 'ments; and'fthatthe protection] 7 available whenever themach1ne1s running I are, it as his ba an clothes pick up.

more or'less of. the chargeof the machine,

sometimesto such an extent the garments of, the operator are repelled'from, rather than attracted towards the hand wheels.

The risktof= others who haven) 'walk nea the machine inthe course of their. duties,

is, however, somewhat increased by the. apparent immunity of the operator, which tends to render them less, cautious, whereas they should be more so.,

The primary object of my invention is to eliminate the dangersabove outlined. 5'

sary' protection withou't interfering with theefiiciency of the operator.v The most obvious. difficulties in many of accomplishing the last mentioned object are that'the hand wheelsn ust be freely acce'ssible to the operator whenever'the inaoperator wouldiha've diflic'ulty in ,making adjust;

' must be without any additionalmo-velilent On the" ."AnQth'erobject is" to provide the necesv part of the operator',fotherwise a careless 1,

operator'would forgetto use" the ,deviceif I The accompanying drawings illustrate {as} much as isnecessaji y of -'a, fulli'fashioned knitting machine to theapplication of parallel with v and spaced below the" Same;

One of the hand wheels is i'llustrated .:at '1 4;.

' The end ofs'haftio carriesfa, block of in'su- Y lation" 16 on. which is. mounted a. {metallic contact 18; adapted to bridge the gap be'tween two contacts 20 "and completeithe electric circuit for driving thelmachine'bypower. I

The structure just described, embodies essential features of the device of the prior; art to which my invention has been applied;

o-"l l According to invention I, mount, a

plurality of curved guards22 on the (3011-. troll shaftlO, preferably keying them as at 24 to prevent rotation around the axis-of shaft lO; The shaft itself is, of'eourse, presleeve and extension.

LllClGS the extension 26, and a collar 34% fast 7 strong enough to overcome extension 26 in rod 10and bearing 32, but

vented from rotation by similar means (not shown). It will be apparent, that longitudinal movement of control shaft to carry contact 18' toward or away from contacts 20 will move the guard 22 into or out of a position directly over hand wheel 1&, where it will protect those near the machine from accidental injury. I

The distance through which contact 18 need'be moved, however, in order to make and break the operating circuit for the machine, is s small that the range of movement of guard 22 would be insufficient to carry it'froni a position directly over hand 'wheel 14', to a position far enough at one side not to interfere with the hand of the operator. 1 have provided a lost motion connection for increasing the range of move ment ofcontrol rod 10 and guard 22. Referring to Fig; 2 an extension 26 is slidably' mounted in the tubular end of rod 10 and urged resiliently to the left by spring 28. A pin 30 limits the relative movement of the A fixed bearing 32 Zned on the extension by suitable means, such as set screw36, limits the movement of the extension'to the left, and prevents the force applied by the operator to control rod 10 from vbeing imposed on contacts 18 and 20. Spring 28'should' preferably be the friction of of insufficient strength to force contact18 into place between contacts 20, and entirely ineffective to overcome the frictional resist ances or rod-1O in its bearings. The opera-- tor must, therefore, move rod 10 until pin encounters the righthand end of its slot before he can force contact permanently into place, and to stop the machine he must move the rod until pin 30 contacts the left hand end of its slot. This prevents him from stopping the machine by partial movement of control rod 10, and cramping or hurting his hand it is'too close to guard 22. At the same time liec'an move the machine by power a little at. a time, by a temporary light contact be tweenparts 18 and 20,"witho-ut taking up the lost motion provided by the pin 30 in its slot, while his hand is continually in contact with wheel 14 and he moves the machine a little by power, or by hand, or both. Then he finds the operation of, the knit ting mechanism satisfactory, he can release hand wheel 14: and throw control rod 10 completely over, leaving the machine running under various conditions of service,

by trying to rotate wheel 14 while 1.,aaases at full speed with guards 22 in operative position. r V

Without further elaboratiomthe foregoing will so fully explain the gist of my invention, that others may, by applying current knowledge, readily adapt the same for use out eliminating certain features which may properly be said to constitute the essential with-.

items of novelty involved, which items are intended to be defined and secured to me by the following claims. I

I claim: V 1. In acontrol system for knitting machines, manual operating means, manual power control means, and

when the power means is in operation.

2. In a control system for knitting mawheel when the power is turned on, control means actuated by said rod, and a lost motion connection between said rod and said control means.

protector means associated with said manual power control means and arranged to be moved into position to shield and protect the manual means,

a longitudinally slidable" with said rod of a guard 7 4. In a control. system for knitting .ma}

chines having a 7 power control rod and a hand drive wheel, the combination with said rod of a guard carried thereby and arranged to cover said wheel when the power is turnedjon, control means actuated by said rod, and a lost mo-' tion connection between said rod and said control means, said control means permit ting temporary operation of said machine by power without takingup the lost motion. n V

l .105 a powcr'control element and a manual drive element, power delivery means operable by 5. in combination with macliine having either partial or complete actuation of said control element, and guard means for covering said manual drive element when said control element is completely actuated, but not when it is partially actuated 'orin' inoperative position. i

longitudinally slidable In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe day of December, 1921. ROBERT BREYER.

my name this 21st 

